Bank of Queensland Introduces Lottery Accounts

Bank expects to attract new customers with lure of $20,000 monthly prize.

The Bank of Queensland has announced it will introduce new savings accounts that use lottery tickets to attract potential customers.

Under the new accounts, any deposit holder maintaining a balance of $250 or more in any given month will be eligible for a $20,000 cash prize to be decided by a monthly draw.

The bank broke the new of the new accounts during its profit announcement last Friday. The accounts will come into effect starting from November.

Managing Director David Liddy said that the "Save To Win" accounts were just the beginning of a whole range of new products that would be launched over the next six months in a bid to attract new customers and reduce costs.

Unsurprisingly, anti-gambling groups were quick to criticize the move, including political group GetUp, which said the product targeted Australians who gamble.

"It's clearly an account that targets younger Australians and those Australians who gamble, and that's a dangerous path to be going down for an institution which is supposed to provide good financial advice," a spokesman for the group was quoted as saying by the Fairfax news agency.

But Liddy said the product had been approved by the necessary authorities, saying: "It's not gambling. You're putting your money safely in a bank and being potentially rewarded...you're not putting your capital at risk at all."